C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
On Dreams
By Petronius (c. 27–66)
T
Come not from holy shrine nor heavenly space,
But from within. Sleep stays the limbs a-weary,
The truant spirit goes its wanton ways.
Deeds of the day, deeds of the dark. The warrior
Sees hosts in flight and hapless towns on fire;
The monarch slain confronts his fell destroyer,
Amid a weltering waste of blood-stained mire
The Forum’s all-triumphant pleader trembles
Before the law, or frets within the bar;
The miser his unearthed gold assembles,
And baying hounds the huntsman call afar;
The sinking seaman grasps the vessel keeling,
The courtesan indites a billet-doux,
The debauchee counts out his coin unwilling,
The very dogs in dreams their hare pursue.